Portal:Current events/2010 May 27

May 27, 2010 (2010-05-27) (Thursday)

• The death toll in the recent violence in Jamaica jumps to 73, and 44 in west Kingston alone. (Al Jazeera) (Montreal Gazette)
• At least seven people die and at least 40 others are injured after a bomb explodes before a performance in Stavropol. (CBC) (CNN) (Deutsche Welle) (RIA Novosti)
• The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is now the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the worst previous spill, the Exxon Valdez wreck on the Alaska coast in 1989, according to scientists' latest estimates. (Chicago Tribune)
• A US-born Yemenite cleric linked to Al-Qaeda, Anwar Al-Awlaki, advocates the killing of US civilians in a new Al Qaeda video. (USA Today)
• Two campaigners for LGBT rights in Zimbabwe are freed after spending six days in custody on charges of possessing pornographic material and insulting President Robert Mugabe. (BBC) (IOL) (News24.com)
• North Korea says it will scrap an accord aimed at preventing accidental naval clashes with South Korea after being blamed for a torpedo attack that sank a South Korean warship. (CBC)
• France detains Rwandan doctor Eugene Rwamucyo, wanted by Interpol since 2006 and accused of involvement in the Rwandan Genocide. (BBC)
• Sudan:
  • Many international leaders stay away from the inauguration of Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, as he is sworn in as President of Sudan but at least five African presidents attend the event along with two UN representatives. (BBC) (Reuters)
  • The Sudanese government says it will no longer engage in peace talks with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), promising to prosecute its leaders instead. (Al Jazeera)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • Israel summons the ambassadors of Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Sweden and Turkey to protest the expedition as an unnecessary provocation after eight ships, including four cargo vessels and a Turkish passenger ferry carrying 600 people, including a Nobel peace laureate and former U.S. congresswoman, set sail for Gaza with 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to break a three-year Israeli blockade on the territory. (RTÉ) (Associated Press) (Voice of America)(The Jerusalem Post)
  • Organizers of the aid flotilla refuse an offer of support by the family of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit if they would urge Hamas to allow the soldier to receive letters and food packages from his family and international organizations to visit him. (Ynetnews) (The Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz)
  • Israel invites the convoy to unload its cargo at the port of Ashdod, where the cargo will be checked for weapons and then the humanitarian goods will be distributed by land to Gaza. (Haaretz) (The Jerusalem Post)
  • The Israeli Army shows journalists a detention centre in Ashdod where those on board will locked up, saying Israelis would be arrested, Palestinians would be questioned by the Israeli secret service, and foreign nationals would be sent home. (Al Jazeera)
  • Cyprus bans flotilla vessels from gathering in its territorial waters, a move described by Israel as "an ethical deed and a voice of reason". (Ynetnews)
  • Two Palestinians are wounded in an Israeli air strike east of Gaza City in response to Palestinians firing mortar into Israel. (AFP)
• Pakistan:
  • A Pakistani army major is the latest suspect to be arrested in connection with the failed Times Square car bombing attempt. (Telegraph)
  • Pakistan restores access to the video sharing website YouTube, but 1,200 web pages remain blocked for hosting "blasphemous" content. (Al Jazeera)
• In its annual report, Amnesty International says human rights abuses and repression increased in Iran and China last year, the African Union refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court after it indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council took little action while Sri Lanka’s army and Tamil militants both committed potential war crimes, and Israel and the militant group Hamas did not follow up on reports that accused both sides of human rights abuses during the Gaza War. (Xinhua)(Businessweek)(MSNBC)(VOA)
• Licences are granted to four private daily newspapers as part of media reforms in Zimbabwe. (BBC) (CNN)
• Singapore closes beaches along 7.2 kilometers (4.5 miles) of its east coast as an oil spill from the damaged Malaysian tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 continues to spread. (AP) (Reuters India) (BBC)
• Libya welcomes the return of some ancient relics stolen by British soldiers in the 1950s and now on display in Tripoli's Museum of Libya. (IOL) (BBC) (Daily Mail) (News24.com)
• Tens of thousands of workers strike in protest against government plans to raise the retirement age in France. (BBC) (Bangkok Post) (RTÉ) (The Washington Post) (Al Jazeera)
• Stanley Kingaipe and Charles Chookole, two ex-officers in Zambia's air force, are awarded 10 million kwacha in damages following claims they were tested and treated for HIV without their knowledge. (BBC)
• Spain's parliament approves by one vote a €15 billion austerity package to rein in the country's budget deficit. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• French Polynesia Vice President Edouard Fritch is arrested in a bribery probe. (RNZI)
• Peter James Bethune, a New Zealand anti-whaling campaigner, pleads guilty to four charges over his alleged attacks on the Japanese whaling vessel MV Shōnan Maru 2 in February. (ABC) (Radio New Zealand) (The Jakarta Post)
• The first launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is delayed to no earlier than June 2, 2010, due to delays in a Delta IV GPS satellite launch. (Space.com News)
• Ten acts, including former winner Niamh Kavanagh, progress to the final of Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Bærum, Oslo. Sweden fails to qualify for the first time in its history. (The Irish Times) (BBC)
• Former child actor Gary Coleman is hospitalised in a critical condition in the United States. (CNN) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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